The Take That frontman much prefers lengthy tracks that tell a story to two-minute hits as he feels they lack any real meaning, and aren't long enough to feature ''big celebratory choruses''.

However, the 47-year-old singer realises that most music lovers have shorter attention spans with music so readily available on streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music.

He told the Daily Star newspaper: ''Songs are way too short these days, with a lot of them there is nothing there lyrically.

''If you think about it, a lot of the chart hits only last about two minutes.

''I love hearing a full-on four or five-minute track, with those big celebratory choruses.''

He added: ''The thing is with the way the world is now, I don't know if people have the attention span for it.''

Gary - who is joined by Mark Owen and Howard Donald in the current formation of the 90s band, which previously featured Robbie Williams and Jason Orange - confirmed on Monday (16.07.18) that they are set to mark their 30th anniversary with a 'Greatest Hits Tour', and that they are working on a ''Greatest Hits with a twist'' project.

He tweeted: ''There are some exciting announcements coming from TTIII soon. We've an extremely important release coming this Winter in the form of a Greatest Hits with a twist. Then in 2019 we will turn our recordings into a live show featuring all the hits from the last 3 decades. #TTIII [sic]''

Gary has hinted that they could follow in the footsteps of Sir Elton John by asking their peers to cover their songs for an album, like the 'Rocket Man' hitmaker did for his 'Revamp' LP.

The 'Patience' hitmaker would love to get Adele to put her spin on one of their hit songs.

He said: ''It's a fantastic way to celebrate, and Elton is Elton - so he can pull it off completely. Adele would be the obvious choice straightaway, for me.''

As to whether Robbie will be involved in the celebration, the 44-year-old star recently cast doubt, insisting he'd do it if Jason was involved too.

He said: ''I can genuinely say I don't know. I'm up for it. But I don't know what their calendar says, what my calendar says. I don't know what their manager says.

''We'd all love to do it. I'd love to get Jason back involved, realistically I don't think so.

''If we could get Jay back it would be perfect. But we shall see, watch this space.''